Songbringer aims to be a procedurally-generated Zelda-like

Procedurally-generated action-RPG Songbringer cites The Legend of Zelda as its prime inspiration, though it looks more like The Binding of Isaac's dungeon crawling merged with Sword & Sworcery's pixelated fantasy aesthetic and outdoor environments.

Sporting a vaguely Heavy Metal-esque vibe, you play as a galaxy cruising musician who unwittingly find a sweet musical sword that's only downside is that it's cursed and it awakens an ancient evil army. As they say, there's no such thing as a free legendary sword.

Like Zelda before it, Songbringer won't have an XP system, so you'll have to survive off your skills. Yet this won't be a simple button-masher or arcade game, as much of the combat and adventuring will be based around crafting with some pretty neat items you can make. For example, you can make a "fire teleport orb" that works as a dodge maneuver, a poison-tinged boomerang, and an electric guitar that affects enemy behaviour and reveals secret dungeons - not unlike one of Link's many instruments.

That's one area where Songbringer will differ from The Binding of Isaac and other action-roguelikes of its ilk: Songbringer will have an overworld. And a pretty massive one at that. So while there will be combat-heavy dungeons to crawl, there will also be an expansive, lonely land that you're free to explore and scour for secrets.

Songbringer is the work of Nathanael Weiss, at his one-person studio Wizard Fu Games. Given its team size of one, Weiss is looking for some funds to dedicated himself full-time to the project. The Songbringer Kickstarter only launched earlier today, and Weiss is looking to make a mere $9K minimum. If he gets over $40K, he'll develop ports for iOS and Android platforms. Console versions aren't planned yet, but the developer noted that he's open to the idea if he can get enough funding. This could be announced as a later stretch goal if the campaign becomes successful.

Otherwise Songbringer is shooting for an alpha in August, a beta in October and a release in December on PC, Mac and Linux. Though Weiss noted that he may fall behind these rather soonish release date goals.

Backers can secure a copy of Songbringer for a mere $8. Getting early beta access, however, costs eight times that at $64, but this comes with some other goodies like a soundtrack. If you think Songbringer looks rad, but don't want to invest any money into it just yet, Weiss is looking for folks to support Songbringer on Steam Greenlight.